Inspiration.

About eight years ago I took these photos of Jim Lee's figure for Raphael, the Ninja Turtle. And, yes, I do dream of doing the equivalent of Batman Collected with TMNT. And, yes, I realize that I'm no Geoff Spear but, actually, the person I was trying to be in Photography school was David Levinthal.

FBI GOES TO WASHINGTON: SPX 2008!

Gary Groth, Kim Thompson and myself are all headed east this weekend to attend one of our favorite shows of the year:     Taking place Saturday and Sunday in Bethesda, MD, SPX is the last great East Coast show of the year, and we'll be there in full force with a slew of signings, events, debuts, etc. To wit:  FANTAGRAPHICS SPX SIGNINGS: SATURDAY 12PM: Paul Karasik & Miss Lasko-Gross1PM: Paul Karasik & Tim Krieder2PM: Dash Shaw & John Kerschbaum3PM: Dash Shaw 4PM: Lilli Carré  SUNDAY 12PM: Paul Karasik & Miss Lasko-Gross1PM: Lilli Carré2PM: John Kerschbaum & Tim Krieder3PM: Paul Karasik & Dash Shaw4PM: Dash Shaw FANTAGRAPHICS-RELATED PANELS: Sat. 1:00PM: Kim Thompson:…

Preview video/slideshow: American Presidents

Before you watch the McCain/Obama debate in a few minutes, get yourself in the right frame of mind by taking an advance look at American Presidents, our upcoming volume of Presidential portraits by master caricaturist David Levine (coming next month). Click here if the slideshow doesn't appear above.

Blogosphere roundup for 9/26/08

Here are the book reviews that turned up around the web on this relatively quiet week: • The incredibly-named I Love Rob Liefeld recommends Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 for fellow L&R newbies; the more sensibly-named Read About Comics looks at the issue as well; Johnny Bacardi gives it an "A" (scroll about halfway down) • Former Fantagraphics intern Michael Jewell recommends The Complete Love and Rockets in Savannah College of Art & Design's District • Brazilian blog Quadrinhos Coquettes takes note of Mome • Comic Book Bin looks at Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko by…

Chocolate Cheeks for 9/26/08

Time for a new installment of Steven Weissman's in-progress pages from "Blue Jay," an epic 32-page story from Chocolate Cheeks, the next collection of the Yikes! gang's adventures. In this week's episode: somebody gets Rocky Roaded! (Remember, you must be registered and logged in to read.)